by Lawrence Seow
Singapore is by no means a lousy place to live. On the contrary, it remains one of the safest, most secure, and stable cities on the planet. We owe this to the foresight, sacrifice, and leadership of late Lee Kuan Yew and his colleagues.
That said, many in the public have misgivings about the current leaders. I would venture to say that approximately fifty percent feel this way. Some of them would still vote for you (for reasons we won’t discuss here).
The optics or public perception is that overpaid Ministers are too far detached from our everyday struggles. How does someone earning a million dollars begin to understand the average Joe? Everything is affordable to him. However, S$5.00 for economy rice and S$1.30 for a kopi-O is a significant concern for someone earning S$2,000 each month.
The Elections Department is controlled by the People’s Action Party (PAP)—it answers to the Prime Minister, who is also the Secretary-General of the party. It does not operate fairly, and the opposition is clearly disadvantaged. In fact, the PAP has its tentacles in every sphere of life in this country, leading to significant resentment, even if it is not always articulated.
Before he became Prime Minister, Lawrence Wong was asked to postpone the Goods & Service Tax (GST) increase. He went ahead and raised GST anyway, which is perceived as greedy and is viewed as the main reason for the high cost of living today.
POFMA is now a laughingstock. Nobody believes it is being used to uphold the truth. It is seen as nothing more than a blunt instrument to silence dissent—or at least, that is the perception, which is exactly my point.
How the government handled the COVID pandemic does not inspire a sense of confidence. The pressure or coercion to get the jab or risk being left behind was in poor taste. The many sudden injuries and deaths were conveniently explained away.
Everything you have done in the past decade gives the sense that the government does not care, does not understand, and does not want to. The attitude seems to be: “Because we know best!” It comes across as high-handed and arrogant.
In conclusion, Singapore is still a great city—there is no dispute here. However, the current trend is taking us downhill. We do not respect, trust, or believe in the current leaders as we did with earlier generations. I predict your winning margin in the coming General Election will be reduced to about 55%, if you are lucky. Cheers!
